Trump Hits the NOPE Button on Fed Approvals for New Wind and Solar

Trump’s been pretty clear all along about how he feels regarding the renewables scam, particularly wind. And even when he’s been forced by circumstances to renege in some specific cases, thanks to foreign governments and projects already well underway, he’s managed to swing some sort of gain out of what would have been a total loss. Witness the permitting backpedal on New York State’s Empire Wind in the face of pylons already in progress, with the Norwegian government being the primary shareholder. That became a conduit for a gas pipeline through formerly closed New York State. 

The day before yesterday, Trump was still railing against wind and solar to anyone who’d listen.

President Trump says “stupid and ugly windmills are killing New Jersey.” Energy Secretary Chris Wright explains how the Trump Administration is going to end wind power. pic.twitter.com/RD5saVRvlw

— Varney & Co. (@Varneyco) August 19, 2025

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum was beginning to put the screws to wind and solar projects already in the planning stages but not yet shovel-ready, and those which hadn’t received or applied for their federal permits yet.

Solar and wind energy projects must now get Interior Secretary Doug Burgum’s personal sign-off to receive permits across the hundreds of millions of federal acres under his department’s control, according to an internal memo obtained by POLITICO.

The Interior directive puts wind and solar projects under heightened scrutiny, potentially slowing approvals and construction across vast swaths of some of the most sun- and wind-rich portions of the country. The memo was sent to Interior staff on Wednesday, according to a person familiar with it and an Interior official who had seen the document who were both granted anonymity to discuss a memo that had not been publicly released.

Energy Secretary Chris Wright has been just as aggressive on his side of the cabinet table.

Today, the boss dropped what looks to be the hammer on the future of the Green grifting scam for the foreseeable future, as far as the United States empowering it or providing CPR.

I’ll take him at his word because this is just too much good news to pick apart right off the bat.

Thank you, President Trump!!

Illinois is being crushed with record-high energy bills because of useless wind and solar from CHINA.

It’s time to end this SCAM and bring back reliable, affordable energy for our families and farmers! pic.twitter.com/LsIVPdEyGJ

— Rep. Mary Miller (@RepMaryMiller) August 20, 2025

Pretty cool.

Particularly as it’s been nowhere but down for the industry, and well before Trump took office. His ascendency has only sped up the inevitable by pulling it off government life support.

At the beginning of the month, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) killed offshore wind leasing by revoking the designation of over 3.5M acres of offshore federal waters as wind farm lease areas.

Nine days ago, I told you how Danish wind giant Ørsted, which had counted on being able to sell shares of its Sunrise Wind project to help pad a shaky bottom line, was now in such dire financial straights that it was planning a ‘rights issue’ to current stockholders. That’s where folks who are already investors in the company have a chance to buy even more stock at a reduced rate. Yes, it raises more liquid cash for the parent company, but it also dilutes the stock value, so one has to think very carefully before jumping on such a great deal.

…The boss of $20 billion Orsted (ORSTED.CO), opens new tab, who took the helm in February, is asking shareholders for 60 billion Danish crowns ($9 billion) to cut debt and keep building Sunrise Wind, a troubled U.S. project. A 29% slump in the Danish offshore developer’s share price reflects that its big problem under predecessor Mads Nipper – asserting that the worst was past only to then unveil a new nasty surprise – hasn’t really gone away.

Well, when they announced the cash call, investors ‘scattered’ and shares in the company plunged thirty percent. 

YIKES

If they can’t raise the cash, they quite probably won’t be able to build out their big remaining US project.

…The capital raise comes on the back of a stretched balance sheet battered by inflation, supply-chain delays, and shifting subsidy policies that have upended the nascent U.S. offshore wind industry. These factors already led Orsted to scrap, opens new tab some U.S. projects and book hefty impairments, but as recently as April Errboe was still confident in his project funding. Now, a stop-work order by the wind-phobic administration of President Donald Trump in April to a separate Equinor (EQNR.OL), opens new tab scheme has left the Danish group concerned it wouldn’t be able to finance the buildout of Sunrise Wind, even though the order was lifted in May.

That’s because the funding hinged on Orsted selling stakes in the project to third parties – “farm-downs”, in the terminology – despite being only at an early stage of construction. The U.S. government’s hostility and unpredictability implies less lucrative farm-downs, meaning Errboe has to shoulder the cost on his company’s balance sheet. To preserve its investment-grade credit rating, that means raising 40 billion crowns for Sunrise Wind, plus an extra 20 billion crowns to cater for extra capital spending needs.

What a pity.

And here is the Trump administration raining on their parade yet again today.

It has true believers apoplectic.

Gov Maura Healey (@MassGovernor) says she is trying to drive down energy costs but says she can’t due to President Trump.

She proceeds to say that Massachusetts needs to double down on wind energy.pic.twitter.com/qWd67wLwCX

— Bostonians Against Mayor Wu (@AntiWuCoalition) August 20, 2025

While Mid-Atlantic and New England governors are snarling, believe it or not, some Pacific Northwest governors are breathing sighs of relief. It’s incredible how unfascist Trump is when he gets them out of a tight spot, though they’d never admit it—Oregon’s, for instance.

…When these wind farms started to look like a possibility, Kotek asked Biden to halt the project for further research into the potential effects of offshore wind farms on the local community. By requesting the delay, she could torpedo the plan without appearing to backpedal on her previous platform.

However, Kotek was recently tossed a lifeline from an unexpected source. The Trump administration’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, or BOEM, has rescinded all wind power plans for the southern Oregon coast, to the relief of communities in those areas. This new Kotek and Trump alliance has handed the governor the pause on offshore wind she likely wanted. Don’t hold your breath, however, waiting for the Governor to send Trump a thank-you note. You can do that for her by emailing [email protected].

Perhaps Trump’s order will also help the Crusading Crew in Cayuga County, NY, fighting like wildmen against 650 ft turbines planned for their beautiful but sparsely populated Finger Lakes district. The company that has the contract has not yet requested the federal permits they need, even though Kathy Hochul has stomped all over their local self-determination, blessing the fast-tracking of this abomination.

This could be the answer they’ve been praying for.

In related news of bad ass cabinet secretaries in action, yesterday, Brooke Rollins, Agriculture secretary, announced there would be no more tax dollars available for solar farms on prime private farmland.

Yesterday, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins alongside Tennessee Governor Bill Lee, Senator Marsha Blackburn, Senator Bill Hagerty, Representative John Rose, and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Deputy Secretary Stephen Vaden, announced USDA will no longer fund taxpayer dollars for solar panels on productive farmland or allow solar panels manufactured by foreign adversaries to be used in USDA projects. Subsidized solar farms have made it more difficult for farmers to access farmland by making it more expensive and less available. Within the last 30 years, Tennessee alone has lost over 1.2 million acres of farmland and is expected to lose 2 million acres by 2027. This problem is not just in Tennessee, since 2012, solar panels on farmland nationwide have increased by nearly 50%. That is why the Department is taking action.

“Our prime farmland should not be wasted and replaced with green new deal subsidized solar panels. It has been disheartening to see our beautiful farmland displaced by solar projects, especially in rural areas that have strong agricultural heritage. One of the largest barriers of entry for new and young farmers is access to land. Subsidized solar farms have made it more difficult for farmers to access farmland by making it more expensive and less available,” said Secretary Brooke Rollins. “We are no longer allowing businesses to use your taxpayer dollars to fund solar projects on prime American farmland, and we will no longer allow solar panels manufactured by foreign adversaries to be used in our USDA-funded projects.”

I am hoping to see this order squelch Florida Power & Light’s solar ambitions here in the state. 

It’s all about valueless solar in Florida…Fight the $9.0B FPL rate hike to pay for more land grabbing & Chinese panels. Contact the FL PSC Clerk & the Governor. https://t.co/9WFbuyYP0C https://t.co/xvdypChYPK

— David Walsh (@davewalshenergy) August 7, 2025

I will hand it to Trump yet again on the ‘promises kept’ – this is rocking along at a pace I never thought I’d see.

All of this good news at long last feels like nothing but sunshine on my shoulders.

Makes me happy.

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